Category: Notes and Comment Blog

  • The lol MP

    All right. At such times one must cling to any consolation one can find.

    The consolation here is that Sultana is an MP, which is not as disgusting as the return of DT, but it’s still very disgusting, and not our fault.

  • Stick a knife in, we’re done

    It’s not looking good.

    Harris needs Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and it doesn’t look as if she’s going to get them.

    Return of the Toad. I can’t stand it.

  • Filth to the end

    Trump finishes his campaign by calling Nancy Pelosi an evil sick crazy bitch.

    Standing at his final rally of the 2024 campaign, former President Donald J. Trump in the first minutes after midnight on Election Day used a crude sexist remark to attack Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who is one of his longstanding political rivals.

    “She’s a bad person,” Mr. Trump said at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Evil. She’s an evil, sick, crazy —” He made an exaggerated face, his mouth open wide to draw attention to the next syllable: “Bi—”

    Then he held up a finger dramatically, feigning that he’d caught himself. “Oh no,” he said. As the crowd of thousands began laughing, Mr. Trump mouthed the word into the microphone. “It starts with a B, but I won’t say it,” Mr. Trump added. “I want to say it.”

    As the crowd roared even louder, some of the attendees began to supply the word he’d barely omitted, shouting, “Bitch!”

    Hawhawhaw. I bet quite a few of them went home and punched the first female human they saw.

    Mr. Trump has used misogynistic language to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris and has fostered an environment at his rallies where speakers and attendees feel comfortable making the kind of gendered insults that, in another political era, would have been unthinkable to say in public.

    He’s normalized abusive misogynistic insults (as well as racist ones). That’s his legacy.

    Mr. Trump has argued that Ms. Harris, who would be the first female president if she wins, lacks the stamina and intelligence to lead the country. He appeared to embrace a remark shouted by a rallygoer that insinuated Ms. Harris was a prostitute. And he voiced some approval of an audience member’s idea to put Ms. Harris in the ring with the boxer Mike Tyson.

    In Reading, Pa., Mr. Trump was telling an off-topic aside on Monday about Mr. Tyson when a man in the crowd used it as an opportunity to demean Ms. Harris. “Oh, he says, ‘Put Mike in the ring with Kamala,’” Mr. Trump said. “That will be interesting.” The crowd cheered.

    He’s trash. Here’s hoping we can dump him at last.

  • The undefinable is ok for poetry

    Well, now, if you can’t or won’t define it, then why are you making policy and laws about it? How are you providing services to it if you don’t know (or refuse to say) what it is? Please explain.

  • Don’t let that stop you

    Remember Dr Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who buried evidence that puberty blockers don’t reduce gender dysphoria?

    She may end up regretting it.

    The finding that the PUBERTY BLOCKERS don’t make children with gender distress less distressed “might be weaponized” – i.e. might prompt medical people to stop blocking children’s puberties on account of how it doesn’t make them any less unhappy. It seems Olsen-Kennedy wants the children to keep on not having a normal puberty even though she now knows it won’t make them less unhappy. “Oh, it doesn’t work? Well, we have to keep doing it anyway, or the bad people will win.”

    You’d have thought the whole point was to make the kids less unhappy, right? But oh no. The point was…uh…the point was to normalize blocking puberty, so that more and more kids will do it, even though it won’t make them any less miserable.

    Oh well. It’s only people’s lives.

  • Mud

    So now I know this is a thing.

  • Bros decide

    Sigh. President of Humanists UK.

    I guess women aren’t human enough.

  • Portents

    Hmm.

    Iowa.

    I was waiting outside the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina after Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally when my phone started to blow up. Ann Selzer, the vaunted pollster of Iowa, had just dropped a poll showing that Harris was leading Trump by three points in the Hawkeye State — a state Trump had won twice. Everyone in the political world wanted to talk about it.

    The Trump campaign knew how bad this news looked. Tony Fabrizio and Tim Saler, the Trump campaign’s data men, released a memo challenging the findings almost immediately.

    Not long afterwards, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Harris leading in North Carolina, as well as Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin. If Harris wins all four, she would not even need to win Pennsylvania, Arizona or Michigan in order to win the entire election.

    Interesting.

    30 hours or so and we’ll know.

  • Don’t discount

    Wait a second.

    I’m reading an article about heterodoxy and how goony both the left and the right can be and yadda yadda but then I stumble to a stop.

    Until recently, within the heterodox slice of the cultural spectrum, opposition to Trump was the obvious response to his singularly reckless and destabilizing political presence. The number of self-described centrist “Never Trumpers”—starting with Trump’s current running mate, who once compared him in this magazine to “cultural heroin”—were legion. But as the race tightened in recent months, I’ve been struck by a palpable shift in attitude among many liberal and centrist voices—a slackening of vigilance, and a softening on Trump.

    This is not to be confused with the 180-degree pivot of prominent MAGA converts such as Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Bill Ackman, as well as writers and journalists such as Naomi Wolf—erstwhile Democrats who’ve become outright Trump fans. What I observed this past summer, as Joe Biden’s campaign self-immolated and Kamala Harris seized the nomination, was a more general exhaustion among many heterodox thinkers, and a disinclination to support the alternative to Trump that was now on offer. Harris, many agree, is not an ideal candidate. But given the enormous stakes, I wanted to understand how anyone not already ensorcelled by the cult of MAGA could hesitate to support her.

    I just can’t understand that – that disinclination. I can’t understand even if you think her policies are worse than whatever actual “policies” Trump favors.

    The reason I can’t understand it is (as I keep saying, to the point of tedium) because he’s such a horrible human being in every way. I couldn’t vote for him even if he had better policies. Or at least I can’t imagine doing so – maybe if the reality were different I would change my mind, but here and now, I can’t imagine ever voting for him because he is such a pulsating tower of mindless sadistic cackling greedy self-dealing ruthless vengeful horror.

    How do “heterodox” types manage to see him any other way?

    Despite his fears of Trump’s fascist tendencies, [Coleman] Hughes found the reality of the Trump administration much less dramatic. “He governed a lot more like a normal Republican,” he said. “In fact, many of his policies would be seen as not right-wing enough.” He’s learned, he told me, to “discount” much of what Trump says: “It’s basically just his businessman instinct. He literally talks about this in The Art of the Deal. You start by saying something crazy, and then you walk your way back to a point of leverage in negotiations.”

    No. Wrong. You can’t “discount” what he says, because what he says is what he says. I don’t care what he says in his ghostwritten book; the point is that people at the apex of government shouldn’t say horrible sadistic bullying dangerous crap. Nobody should ever “discount” a head of state who does that – especially one who does it every waking minute of every day. He’s a bad man. It’s a terrible mistake to install a bad person as head of state.

    In 2020, Hughes voted for Biden, whom he viewed as a moderate liberal and a politician with a record of reaching across the aisle. This is not at all how he perceives Harris, whom he sees as aligned with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and “deeply destructive to the long-term flourishing of the country.” When it comes to foreign policy, “I haven’t seen even a 10-second clip of her impressing me by analyzing anything going on in the world related to geopolitics, foreign conflicts and so forth,” he told me. “I have basically zero signals of her competency as a manager or executive.”

    While Trump, on the other hand?

    I give up.

  • Remember the man?

    So. It’s in the news that Imane Khelif is indeed a man. Also, dogs can’t read.

    Maybe now men will stop saying women should be beaten up for saying a man is not a woman?

    No, of course not, now it will be women should be beaten up for getting it right too early, kind of like the premature anti-fascists of last century.

  • Boys having fun

    Baddy Kennedy in charge of public health: now there’s a plan.

    Donald Trump suggested vaccines could be banned if he becomes president, in the clearest sign yet of a radical shake-up in public health policy should he put his ally Robert F Kennedy Jr in charge of it.

    Trump on Sunday told NBC that Kennedy, the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and former independent candidate who dropped out and endorsed Trump, would have a “big role in the administration” if [he] wins Tuesday’s presidential election. Trump said he would talk to Kennedy about vaccinations.

    Why? Why talk to Dumb Kennedy about vaccinations? He’s not a doctor or a researcher so why talk to him? Why treat a public health issue as a political football instead of a public health issue?

    Kennedy has repeatedly claimed that childhood vaccines cause autism, a theory scientists have debunked. He has also said in recent days that Trump has promised him control over a broad range of public health agencies if he returns to the White House, potentially putting him in a position to implement his most radical theories.

    Trump did not contradict that claim and held open the possibility of banning certain vaccines. “Well, I’m going to talk to him and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views,” the Republican nominee told NBC.

    One, no, he’s not very talented, two, strong views are not what’s needed on technical questions.

    Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s campaign, gave further credence to the weight Kennedy’s views might carry in an administration when he told CNN that he could be given access to federal data on vaccines safety. He also appeared to endorse Kennedy’s opinions on the supposed risks of vaccines.

    “He says, ‘If you give me the data, all I want is the data, and I’ll take on the data and show that it’s not safe,’” Lutnick said. “Let’s give him the data. I think it’ll be pretty cool to give him the data. Let’s see what he comes up with. I think it’s pretty fun.”

    Ah yes, that’s what destroying public health is, it’s “pretty fun.”

  • Just don’t leave

    Trump is publicly saying he thinks “leaving” after losing an election is optional. In other words he’s saying that if you lose a re-election it’s up to you whether you “leave” or not. He’s wrong. If you lose a re-election then leaving is mandatory. That’s the point of the election.

    By the way there are other situations where leaving is mandatory. Say friends invite you over for dinner. At some point after the dinner part, you have to leave. Inviting you over for dinner is not the same as inviting you to move in. There is some wiggle-room – in fact it would be bad form to swallow your final bite and then immediately rise and head for the door. But it’s wiggle-room, it’s not “stay forever if you want.”

    With two days left in his third presidential campaign, former President Donald J. Trump told supporters at a Pennsylvania rally on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term, escalated his unfounded claims of voter fraud, and said “I don’t mind” if reporters are shot at.

    With the remarks, Mr. Trump used the final days of his campaign to offer voters a stark reminder of the violence that came at the end of his term when, after weeks of his false claims that he had won an election he had lost, a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol to try to prevent the certification of President Biden’s victory.

    And yet he was allowed to run for the same office again. This country is badly broken.

    On Sunday, at an airport in Lititz, Pa., Mr. Trump diverted from a closing argument about the stakes of the race with Vice President Kamala Harris and instead, his voice audibly hoarse and his speech sluggish, indulged in his personal grievances as he called the Democratic Party “demonic.”

    No you are.

    Reflecting on the state of border security at the end of his tenure, Mr. Trump said he regretted ever leaving office.

    “I shouldn’t have left, I mean, honestly,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “we did so well, we had such a great—” and then cut himself off. 

    After openly announcing he wants to be an unelected dictator. He wants to force himself on us the way he likes to force himself on women. The force in both cases isn’t a regrettable necessity to get what he wants, it’s much of the thrill of the thing. He likes forcing himself on people who don’t want him. Bullying takes him to his happy place.

  • You know he do the weave, right?

    Trump in cognitive decline:

    When I say insane asylums, and then I say, Doctor Hannibal Lecter, does anybody know? They go crazy. They say, oh, he brings up these names out of— Well, that’s genius. Right. Doctor Hannibal Lecter. There’s nobody worse than him. Silence of the Lambs. Who the hell else would even remember that? I have a great memory, but they always hit me. I don’t bring it up too much because they have to take such a— he brought up Hannibal Lecter. What does that have to do with this? What is it? It has everything to do with it, right? He was – that’s who we’re allowing into our country, and, we don’t want to allow that into our countries, so I’ve done something for you for you that I haven’t done in 20 speeches. I brought up Doctor Hannibal Lecter and we’re allowing him, you watch, you watch these fake people will say again, he brought up Hannibal Lecter has absolutely nothing to do. You know I do the weave, right? The weave. It’s genius. You bring up Hannibal Lecter, you mention insane asylum. Hannibal Lecter. You go out, no. There’ll be a time in life where the weave won’t finish properly at the bottom and then we can talk. But right now it’s pure genius. Hey, I have an uncle, my uncle, Uncle John, my father’s brother, 41 years at MIT, longest serving professor has so many degrees, he didn’t know what the hell to do with them all in the most complicated. I understand a lot of this stuff, you know, I believe in that. Like, I mean, Jack Nicklaus is not gonna produce a bad golfer. Right. You know, that’s the way it works. It’s just one of those things and it’s in the family and it’s whatever

  • Guest post: Conformist, philistine and easily offended

    Originally a comment by Mostly Cloudy on It’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic.

    It does make me laugh that the article says today’s teenagers and twentysomethings are taking up smoking to “rebel”.

    This is a generation that panics when someone uses the term “adult human female”.

    This is a generation that bullies a writer (Elizabeth Gilbert) into withdrawing a book that’s set in Russia in the 1900s, because they think that the book is somehow pro-Putin.

    This is a generation that has “challenging” books removed from their university courses because the rich little snowflakes are so easily triggered.

    “Rebel?” The majority of today’s youth are conformist, philistine and easily offended. Somehow, we’ve raised a generation of Mary Whitehouses.

    Laura Nyro and Joe Strummer wouldn’t recognise today’s pampered identarians, who love cigarettes but fear thought and action.

  • It’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic

    From the Sheer Unadulterated Stupidity Files: Hay kidz smoaking iz bakk.

    …singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue – quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

    So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?

    Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because “it’s just what everyone does”. Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic.

    “I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe.”

    Hunh hunh hunh yeah and if Charli herself takes a nap in the middle of a freeway you should do that too, right? Embody the vibe, maaaaan.

    Journalist Olivia Petter says the cigarette has become a symbol that represents our nostalgia towards a bygone era of carefreeness, frivolity and hedonism and it’s making an comeback in pop culture.

    You what now? Setting a dried plant on fire and putting it in your mouth is carefreeness, frivolity and hedonism? An addictive poisonous fire stick is luxurious fun?

    Jessica, a 26-year-old who works in marketing, says smoking has “become so normalised again”.

    “I didn’t know anyone that smoked a few years ago but now it seems like everyone is doing it and you sort of forget how bad it is for you.”

    Well, if you’re really really stupid you do.

    In the end the BBC admits it’s just bullshitting.

    But, overall, the number of young people smoking is declining – official estimates show that fewer than one out of every 10 young adults in the UK smoke cigarettes – a steep drop from a quarter of 18-24-year-olds 12 years ago.

    So smoking is making a comeback except that it’s not. Brilliant journalism.

  • You already know

    The NY Times editorial board concisely sums up the bad guy:

    You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who know him best. He tried to subvert an election and remains a threat to democracy. He helped overturn Roe, with terrible consequences. Mr. Trump’s corruption and lawlessness go beyond elections: It’s his whole ethos. He lies without limit. If he’s re-elected, the G.O.P. won’t restrain him. Mr. Trump will use the government to go after opponents. He will pursue a cruel policy of mass deportations. He will wreak havoc on the poor, the middle class and employers. Another Trump term will damage the climate, shatter alliances and strengthen autocrats. Americans should demand better. Vote.

    They left something out though.

    He’s just bad. He’s a bad human. He’s thoroughly awful in just about every way one can think of. (Can you think of any exceptions? Is he funny? Nice to children? Loyal? Honest? Charming?) The result is he’s an inspiration to thoroughly awful people to be even more awful. He’s a role model for how to be a complete shit. He’s a bully, he’s cruel, he’s greedy, he’s ungrateful, he’s vain, he’s a liar – and on and on. He’s poisonous, and it’s degrading and demoralizing to have him squatting in the top job.

  • But did not provide a reason

    OutKick reports:

    As OutKick reported earlier Saturday, San Jose State suspended associate head volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose. 

    The university sent a statement to OutKick confirming the news, but did not provide a reason. “The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter.” 

    Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against the school earlier this week alleging that San Jose State showed favoritism for transgender player Blaire Fleming at the expense of the women on the team. 

    Following her suspension, Batie-Smoose spoke exclusively to OutKick. 

    “We had a match today at 12 p.m. [Pacific Time] versus New Mexico. I was there at 10:15 a.m. [because] we were scheduled to take court at 10:30 for our pass and serve time,” Batie-Smoose recounted. 

    “I walked into the building and was walking up the stairs to the gym, and I was met by administration, who asked me to step outside [and speak privately].” At that point, SJSU officials informed Batie-Smoose that she was suspended indefinitely, effective immediately, and forced to turn over her keys and school ID. 

    She was not allowed to gather her belongings from her office, told to leave campus immediately, and instructed not to return to campus until further notice. “They said I would have to contact personnel at a later date to get into my office to get any of my belongings,” she said. 

    In short they treated her like a criminal.

    Officials handed her an envelope with the notice of her suspension and instructed her not to speak with the media or any of the players on the San Jose State volleyball team. 

    But Batie-Smoose said she wanted to speak to OutKick, despite the mandate. “This is just another form of what San Jose State has been trying to do – silence people that are speaking up for their First Amendment rights and for what’s right,” she said. 

    All for the sake of letting males invade and thus ruin women’s sports.

    H/t Dave Ricks

  • Teach them chess instead

    Want to play the most boring game on the planet?

    Iiiiiiiit’s Pronouns Pairs!

    The Scouts have been encouraged to use gender-neutral language and to drop the terms “mum and dad”. Members have been encouraged to guide children through a card game called “Pronoun Pairs”, which has been devised as a way of teaching them about gender identity.

    The game uses the character of “Billy the Butterfly” who is “non-binary” to introduce LGBTQI+ concepts to children.

    If Billy is “non-binary” why the fuck is his name Billy? Why not Leslie or Alex or Terry?

    The game, which has been branded “indoctrination” by critics, coaches youngsters to use gender-neutral pronouns, and a post-game reflection led by older Scouts suggests other ways in which language could be altered.

    This suggests “using ‘sibling’ rather than ‘brother or sister’, ‘everyone’ instead of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ or ‘boys and girls’”. It adds: “You could use ‘parent’, ‘carer’ or ‘grown-up’ rather than ‘mum and dad’.”

    But what for? Children who have one or two adoptive or step parents may not want to call them mum or dad, but why does that require teaching children in general about alternatives to the usual words?

    For the sake of making a fuss, no doubt.

    A guide to the Pronoun Pairs game, on the Scouts website, advises adults: “By taking part in this activity and learning about pronouns, we can celebrate the inclusion and diversity we’re so proud of. 

    The game itself is played by turning over cards which depict Sam the dog, who uses “he/him” pronouns, Leslie the ladybird, who uses “she/her” pronouns, and non-binary Billy, who uses “they/them” pronouns. When the cards are turned, children must form a sentence about the character in question using their preferred pronouns, with an example given for Billy as “they ate a sandwich”.

    When the game is over adults can talk through the lessons of the game with the Scouts.

    Dear god. Have you ever heard of a more boring game in your life?

    H/t Acolyte of Sagan

  • Guest post: Let’s play pronoun pairs

    Originally a comment by Acolyte of Sagan on The non-optional communinny.

    The guide references the BSA, so it’s now out of date. After 114 years of being the Boy Scouts of America the name has recently been changed to Scouting America. I only know this from a Telegraph article about the Scouts (no longer Boy Scouts) in the UK being taught about pronouns use by means of a card game, Pronoun Pairs. The whole thing is ridiculous.

    [The game] suggests “using ‘sibling’ rather than ‘brother or sister’, ‘everyone’ instead of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ or ‘boys and girls’”. It adds: “You could use ‘parent’, ‘carer’ or ‘grown-up’ rather than ‘mum and dad’.”

    I can see that going down well well at home. “Good morning Timmy.” “Good morning, carer, is grown-up taking me and sibling fishing today?”

    The game states: “It can feel awkward or forced when you start implementing gender-neutral language. That’s normal.

    Yes, it’s normal for it to feel awkward and forced because it is awkward and forced, you idiots.

    The important thing is to keep at it so that it has a chance to become a part of your everyday communication.”

    Ah, the old sales mantra; ‘persistence removes resistance’.

  • The non-optional communniny

    Behold: a guide to “inclusive scouting”:

    A framework for advancing inclusion and belonging that is rooted in the Scout Oath and Law can guide our actions as we move between the different kinds of knowing. But what other guidelines and actions can facilitate inclusion and belonging in alignment with these values? In this section, we offer best-practices and guidelines to help further advance inclusion and belonging in our movement.

    …

    Meet people where they are. Given the discriminatory history of the BSA, chances are high that not everyone is committed to advancing inclusion and belonging in our movement. Those people are who we should be striving to speak with the most! It is important that we create opportunities for strong relationships and honest communication so that everyone has the opportunity to learn, challenge old habits, and live Scouting’s deepest values.

    Always start with “yes”. If someone asks if they belong in Scouting, even though they’re a girl, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, an atheist, agnostic, or humanist, a person with a disability, or a refugee — and you hesitate — you’ve already made them feel like they don’t belong.

    Ok, but what if they’re a bully or a boy who hates girls or a religious fanatic?

    That’s one question, but I have another. Notice that there’s only one category that is a “community” as opposed to a simple noun.

    I suppose that’s because it takes too long to say gay lesbian and then all the other labels. But the result is that lesbians and men who call themselves lesbians are lumped together into a community with trans people whether they want to be or not, and Scouts are trained to think of them as a community whether it makes any sense or not. It’s kind of like being married off whether you want to be or not. If you’re gay, sorry, you’re drafted into this invented “community” without your consent.